Super Soul
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The Royal Recording Studio at 1320 S. Lauderdale in Memphis has been in operation since 1956 and has seen some of the top acts in the world make records there. The list includes Chuck Berry, Rod Stewart, John Mayer, Ike & Tina Turner, Tom Jones, Buddy Guy ...
Jan 14, 2022
Songbird Takes Wing
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... If I had a time machine one of the places I would go is Los Angeles California from 1965-75...Yeah I know I would have to put up with smog, and all kinds of other problems...but I could also bear witness to some of the greatest music of the era...much of it em...
Jan 13, 2022
"Rockin & Dreamy"
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... Before becoming the whirling dervish in the E Street band...and before releasing a nice group of solo records later in the 70s...Nils Lofgren fronted a trio called Grin. They released a few decent but largely ignored LPs in the early 70's including "1+1...
Jan 12, 2022
A Little Bit Of Everything
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... How do you describe this band to someone who knows nothing about them? Country? Sure...Rock & Roll?...yes...bluegrass and blues?...yeah...western swing?...indeed. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was all of those things and more. Jeff Hanna, John McEwen, Jimmie ...
Jan 11, 2022
The "Queen" Continues Her Reign
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... In January of 1972 we got an album of songs recorded over a year earlier. I'm not sure what took so long for the LP "Young, Gifted & Black" from Aretha Franklin to hit the stores and airwaves but it showed that even a lengthy layoff din't diminis...
Jan 10, 2022
More Than Just The Dead
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... 1972 was a fruitful year for fans of the Grateful Dead. Not only would we get a three LP live record of their 1972 European Tour, we also got solo records from Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Jerry Garcia. The LP "Garcia", released early in the year, was ...
Jan 07, 2022
Going It Alone
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... After 6 years of making a bushel full of great music with his partner, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon released his self-titled solo debut in early 1972. The album is filled with Simon's introspective, acoustic based songs, but also included a number of cuts that t...
Jan 06, 2022
Moving On
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... After releasing a duo LP with Dave Mason and participating in the final Mamas & Papas record in 1971, Cass Elliot was finally ready to record her solo debut for her new record label RCA. It came out in early 1972. Elliot was granted artistic freedom by her...
Jan 05, 2022
Loosey Goosey
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The recording of this one dates back a couple of years...The Rolling Stones, along with pianist Nicky Hopkins and young guitar player Ry Cooder were in the Olympic Studio in London in 1969 during the recording sessions for "Let It Bleed". Keith Richa...
Jan 04, 2022
"Heavy Metal For Those Who Hate Heavy Metal"
We move on...and start our look back at the music of 50 years ago...circa 1972...another great year in popular music.... Early in 1972 we got the first LP from the band known as Blue Oyster Cult. The band had been kicking around Long Island under various names for a number of years without breaking through. Managed by...
Jan 03, 2022
A Bag of Hits To Finish The Year
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... We will finish up 1971 with a collection of hit songs I haven't got around to yet..... The writing credit says Ringo wrote "It Don't Come Easy" which was released in April. George Harrison actually co-wrote and produced the drummer's first post-Beatl...
Dec 31, 2021
Soaring Sax
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... I thought I would give you one more jazz LP before we head into 1972 and this one is little known outside of jazz circles. John Klemmer is a Chicago saxophonist who played many different styles of jazz over a long career. I first discovered him in the mid 70...
Dec 30, 2021
Capping A Great Year
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... 1971 was a mighty good year for Rod Stewart. He had a huge solo record in 'Every Picture Tells A Story" and a monster single with "Maggie May"...and sandwiched on either side were two solid albums from the group he fronted. Faces was as fine a ...
Dec 29, 2021
Bay Area Blues
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... As the Jefferson Airplane slowed and then stopped their touring in late 1971-early 1972, it gave the "side-project" of Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen the ability to do more shows and more recording. Hot Tuna's 2nd LP of the year, "First Pull Up,...
Dec 28, 2021
Following A Classic Is Tough
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... How tough is it to follow up one of the best albums of all time? We found out in late 1971 when Carole King released her 2nd LP of the year..."Music". It, of course, was the follow up to "Tapestry" which was still on the charts at the time....
Dec 27, 2021
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... It was the #1 Christmas album of the 1971 holiday season. It included one original song and a host of Christmas standards. It was "A Partridge Family Christmas Card". The Partridge Family was a tv sitcom that loosely told the story of the Cowsills...a...
Dec 23, 2021
Not Quite There Yet
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The second 1971 LP from Maurice White's band is not quite a finished product. They are not the hit-making funk machine that filled the charts from 1975-81. Earth, Wind & Fire is a band in a process of finding their way and would look much different in a fe...
Dec 22, 2021
Another Forgotten Band
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They were not well known in this country but better received in their native England where they mined the proggy vein previously visited by many including the Moody Blues with whom they are often compared. "Barclay James Harvest and Other Shorts Stories&q...
Dec 21, 2021
Crunchy Rock With Few Calories
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They weren't aiming for your cerebral cortex. They wanted to hit you a bit lower in your anatomy. And for awhile, they accomplished their mission. Grand Funk Railroad was a quintessential American rock band of the era. Blaring guitar, crunching, fuzzy bass and...
Dec 20, 2021
The Origin Story Of A Great Band
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... I have stayed away from most greatest hits LPs since most of the songs were not recorded or released in 1971 but I'll make an exception for "Meaty, Beaty Big & Bouncy" from The Who. It's technically a "best of" Lp but a number of the tr...
Dec 17, 2021
A Legend And His Acolytes
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... While playing a concert with his band Cream at the Fillmore in New York Eric Clapton was asked if he would be interested in recording an album with blues legend Howlin Wolf. Clapton, who cut his teeth on playing the music of the old blues masters agreed. Sessi...
Dec 14, 2021
Another Step Toward Stardom
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... There's a reason why the cover of the 4th album from Boz Scaggs features a picture of his entire band...and why they get cover credit as well. This LP, while still featuring that distinctive voice and the stellar guitar work of Scaggs also lets the band stretc...
Dec 13, 2021
Nearing The End
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... By 1971 they were no longer the hit-makers and genre-shakers of the 60's. The Byrds, who had developed a sound that was labeled folk-rock and later released the seminal country-rock LP "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" were getting tired. Despite still being...
Dec 08, 2021
Sex & Soul
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... It was his opus. A two record set that oozed soul & sex. It was "Black Moses" from Isaac Hayes released in 1971. The album was loaded with slinky, slithering passages and the intonations of Hayes which ranged from Barry White bass to David Ruffi...
Dec 07, 2021
Standing The Test Of Time
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... Is it the greatest hard-rock record ever? It would certainly occupy a place in any rock Mt.Rushmore. It is the 4th LP from Led Zeppelin...released in November of 1971. It is the best selling LP in their catalog at over 36 million copies and, more importantly,...
Dec 06, 2021
Your Mother Hated This Band....And That Was The Whole Point
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... Johnny Rotten called it "the greatest rock album of all time". Lester Bangs gave it a rave review in Rolling Stone saying " it brings all the elements of the bands approach to sound and texture to a totally integrated pinnacle". He also said...
Dec 03, 2021
It's All About The Groove
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The 2nd album of the year from the LA based funk group War, "All Day Music" was a break-through disc for the band after their break with Eric Burdon. The group started to not only find their funk groove but also a nice mellow vibe on a number of the ...
Dec 02, 2021
Live Energy In Studio
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... The second solo record of 1971 for Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher was a bit different than the first. He went into the studio and tried to capture more of a "live" sound to get a more high energy record. At times he succeeds. The album "Duece&q...
Dec 01, 2021
Laid Back & Fine
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It was her second LP of the year and Rita Coolidge delivered another pleasing set of laid back tunes backed by a crack group of cats led by guitarist Marc Benno who also released a solo record that year. Coolidge gives us few originals written by Benno and Mik...
Nov 30, 2021
No Glitter Required
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... It was the 4th album in 18 months and the 2nd in 1971 when Elton John released "Madman Across The Water" late in the year. I've always preferred early Elton John to his later excesses although, lets face it, much of his material, at least through 19...
Nov 29, 2021
Middle Of The Road Monsters
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... Before the music, now called soft-rock, had a title, the radio format that played stuff like The Carpenters, Herb Alpert and Olivia Newton-John was called MOR. It stood for Middle of The Road...and even though some of the artists that populated those radio play...
Nov 26, 2021
A Shaky Beginning
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It's a fascinating story ...the story of Billy Joel's first record. After a stint in a mental hospital and a suicide attempt the year before...Joel wanted to become a songwriter for other people. Folks in the music business told him to record an album...well, ...
Nov 25, 2021
Another Lost Gem
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Here is another one of those late 60's-early 70's bands that delivered top-notch music but never really found a large following. Seatrain originally hailed from Northern California before landing in Marblehead Massachusetts which delivered the title for their ...
Nov 24, 2021
Missing The Voice
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... Earlier in the year The Doors released "LA Woman, a great album. Later in 1971 they released "Other Voices", a not so great album. The difference, of course, is that Jim Morrison died in Paris between the two and the three remaining members ha...
Nov 23, 2021
Domestic Bliss Leads To Classic
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Most rock singers of the 60's and early 70's mined the blues for their songs. Break-ups, unrequited love and other sundry maladies were the mothers milk of the recorded output of that time period. But once in awhile, an artist was in a different place, and was...
Nov 22, 2021
English Hippies Mellow Out In Bay Area
We continue our look back the music of 50 years ago...... Picture yourself in an Adirondack chair somewhere in Marin County in the early 70's. A chilled glass of chablis and maybe some potent herb for sampling. The sunset and the sound of the ocean waves are lulling you. That is what you get from the second LP from the...
Nov 19, 2021
A Posthumous Gem
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... We missed out on doing this one earlier in the year but surely can't leave it off the list of gems from 1971. It was September 18 1970 when Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose. In March of 1971 his record label, Reprise, released an LP made up of songs he wa...
Nov 18, 2021
The South's Rise Is Comin'
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... By 1971 he already had a long career in the music biz. After growing up in North Carolina Charlie Daniels headed to Nashville where he became a fixture in the studio playing on all kinds of records including the three LPs that Dylan cut in Music City. He playe...
Nov 17, 2021
Underrated Talent Gets Top Billing
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... You may not know his name but you certainly know his work. Allen Toussaint wore many hats in the music business. In the 1960"s, working out of New Orleans, he wrote and and arranged many hits for artists like Lee Dorsey (Working In A Coal Mine) and Ernie K...
Nov 16, 2021
The Right Combination Leads To A Masterpiece
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Sometimes it all comes together. And when it does, magic happens. So it was in the days of August and early September at a couple of recording studios in London when the band known as Yes gave us the Lp "Fragile". When keyboardist Tony Kaye refused t...
Nov 15, 2021
You've Got To Please Yourself
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Like child actors who fail to transition to adult roles...the list of teen idols who couldn't make the switch to serious, adult music is many. Rick Nelson is not one of them. In 1971 Nelson was invited to play the annual Rock & Roll Revival show at Madison...
Nov 12, 2021
Weirdness Cracks The Top Ten
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... There may have been weirder songs to crack the Top 10 charts in rock music history but I'm having trouble remembering any of them right now. In October of 1971 a Dutch prog-rock band had an unlikely hit. "Hocus Pocus" by Focus went to #9 on the pop ch...
Nov 11, 2021
Re-Remembering A Familiar Voice
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When I was on my Eastern vacation last summer I stopped as I entered the state of West Virginia. Why? Well, to cue this up on my phone of course... 1971 saw the emergence of John Denver. After scuffling around for a few years he released two LPs in 71 and the ...
Nov 10, 2021
As Solid As It Gets
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... Damn...could they rock! I still don't know why this band wasnt as big as any of the other rock & roll outfits of the period. Mountain really had it all. A solid bottom from Corky Laing on drums...a thundering bass attack from Felix Pappalardi, some tasty ...
Nov 09, 2021
Pop Icon Goes Raw
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When noted music critic Greil Marcus reviewed the 1970 album Self-Portrait from Bob Dylan he famously asked, "What is this sh*t? I would imagine there was more than one critic who thought the same thing after listening to side one of Paul McCartney's 1971...
Nov 08, 2021
Too Much Of A Good Thing
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... There is no mistaking when you are hearing a Judy Collins record. The instrument that is Collins's voice is an amazing thing. Clear, crisp and precise. And herein lies the problem. Can there be too much of those things when you are talking about a musical perfo...
Nov 05, 2021
Quality Imitation From The Bay Area
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and in the world of music, imitation as well as outright theft happened and happens all the time. I would imagine it was impossible to be a band from the San Francisco area in the late 60's and early 70's an...
Nov 04, 2021
Old School Soul Moves Into The 70's
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Before soul music became dominated by a disco beat, there were still some old school soul holdouts doing their "thang" and that included "The Wicked" Wilson Pickett who released his 11th Lp for Atlantic in 1971. That's not to say that Picke...
Nov 03, 2021
Some Hippie Harmony
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... You may only know them for their unlikely hit the previous year. The acoustic duo of Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley took "One Toke Over The Line" Top Ten in 1970. Nice sweater vest...NOT. And since the song mentioned Jesus...Lawrence Welk though it wa...
Nov 02, 2021
Precocious Genius Matures
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Outside of heart-throbs like David Cassidy and Leif Garrett, how many teenage rock stars have their been? Well, some. Stevie Wonder of course....Steve Marriot...and Peter Frampton was just 16 when he joined The Herd and 18 when he played with Marriot in Humble...
Nov 01, 2021
Less Angst, More Positivity
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... After slogging through four albums for the Verve record label in the late 60's Janis Ian was depressed. Her record company had no idea what to do with her after her surprise hit on the problems of inter-racial relationships "Society's Child". Her de...
Oct 29, 2021
A Band Redefining Itself
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... You wouldn't think that musical worlds of John Coltrane and Felix Cavaliere would have mixed together but in 1971 the Rascals released a double LP called "Peaceful World" that was more jazz than the blue-eyed soul they were known for. With Eddie Brig...
Oct 28, 2021
A Work In Progress
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... They had been around since 1968 but their 2nd LP, "Flying" subtitled "One Hour of Space Rock", didn't appear until 1971. UFO formed in London and are viewed by many as a transitional group between hard rock, heavy metal and what became kno...
Oct 27, 2021
A Voice That Deserved Better
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... How many artists have we talked about in these posts as "tortured souls? Too many. And today we have another one. A talented guy whose life and career were derailed by drugs and booze. You know Gene Clark as a founding member of the Byrds. He wrote and ...
Oct 26, 2021
Finding An Identity
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... I recently pulled this LP out and listened to it all the way through for the first time in decades. I had forgotten how interesting it was at the time of release in 1971...and the fact that it didnt sell well. Bowie would break out the next year with Ziggy S...
Oct 25, 2021
Strong Song Choices Are Important
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... A good singer will most of the time know good songs. As the singer-songwriter era began, the need for Brill Building type pop songs was going by the board. Instead singers like Barbra Streisand had to look elsewhere for material. And her 1971 LP "Barbra J...
Oct 22, 2021
Tortured Soul, Good Songs
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... Most songwriters would have killed to write two songs that became part of the folk-rock pantheon. For the ever tortured Tim Hardin, it was just another stop along a train leading to self-destruction. After a stint in the Marines he moved to LA in 1965 and met...
Oct 21, 2021
Sensing Personnel Changes
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... I should probably let Fred Brennan write this review, as I believe he is a big King Crimson fan. I was never a huge fan of the band despite liking their debut record "In The Hall Of The Crimson King" from 1969. By 1971 though, the original incarnation...
Oct 20, 2021
Country With A Hippie Vibe
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago................... They weren't the first to meld straight country with a rock sensibility...the Byrds and Burritos and other were doing it in the late 60's...but in 1971 we first heard a record from a good-time outfit called Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airm...
Oct 19, 2021
Music Without Labels
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... Two albums released in 1971 by the same collection of musicians that showed how different music can be. Brian Auger's Oblivion Express is music without labels. Call it fusion...call it jazz-rock...even call it pop at times...just call it all good. The first L...
Oct 18, 2021
Good Time Blues
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... There was a band out of Chicago that showed us a different side of the blues. It didnt have to be the crude rawness of John Lee Hooker or the studied slickness of BB King. There was a middle ground and the Siegel-Schwall Band found it. The band was one of man...
Oct 15, 2021
Big Band Holdout
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The big bands were dead...oh sure, some guys kept on touring playing the hits of Glenn Miller, Count Basie & Duke Ellington. Buddy Rich was still out there and Stan Kenton too. But the pickings were getting pretty slim as the 70's dawned. And there was Can...
Oct 14, 2021
Too Quiet Fire
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... All female soul singers in the early 70's were being judged against a high standard. Aretha was the queen...and everyone else were members of her court. That included Roberta Flack who released her 3rd LP, "Quiet Fire" in 1971. Flack was a different ...
Oct 13, 2021
BOOOOGIE!!!
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... There were a bunch of artists that released two albums in 1971. One of these was the rockin outfit known as Cactus. If you went to a rock show in the 70's you were guaranteed to hear some drunk yell out the go to term in those days....Boogie!!! And if you were...
Oct 12, 2021
A Stone Cold Classic...And The LP Ain't Bad Either
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago.... Where were you in October of 1971 when you heard American Pie for the first time? The 45 that was played on the radio had the song split into two sides and until your local station received the LP, the DJ had to flip the single over to hear the entire song. Eve...
Oct 11, 2021
A Pile Of Glorious 45's
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....today we look back at some of the groovy hit singles from 1971.... Mr. Big Stuff-Jean Knight The New Orleans born Jean Knight had a moment in 1971 when this slice of take no crap from a man soul went double-platnium and made it to #2 on the charts. It also garn...
Oct 08, 2021
Imitation Is Problematic
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... If you were handed a copy of this record in 1971 without anything on the label...you could be excused if you believed that someone had found a lost Beatles album and released. "Straight Up" the 3rd album by Badfinger was that close an approximation ...
Oct 07, 2021
Secular, Sacred Music
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The University of Wisconsin in Madison became a fertile ground for pop music in the late 60's. Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs cut their teeth there as did Ben Sidran and others. A bit earlier there was a woman who was a native of Madison who also came up in that ...
Oct 06, 2021
Topical Pain
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago........ I don't get it. The critics loved this album. To me its a mess. By 1971 the Beach Boys were yesterday's news. The band that had had hit after hit in the 60's, and had released one of the greatest LPs of the decade in Pet Sounds and the ground breaking singl...
Oct 05, 2021
Two Is Better Than One
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... In the early 70's there were tons of solo singer-songwriters...but duos were also becoming popular. Seals & Crofts, Brewer & Shipley, Cashmen and West, Hall & Oates...just to name a few. So I guess it's a bit ironic that one of the most popular duo...
Oct 04, 2021
The Other Queen Of Soul
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Even a crushing heroin habit couldn't stop the other Queen of Soul from turning out a very nice slice of tasty soul-funk-jazz-pop in 1971. What Aretha was to Detroit, so was Etta James to Chicago...although by the time she released "Losers Weepers", ...
Oct 01, 2021
Swampy Blues...Chomp!
We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago...... You know the voice....whether its from the McDonalds McRib commercial "Chomp"...or his catchy little ditty about a gal named Polk Salad Annie that hit the charts a few years earlier. Tony Joe White sounds like just what he is...a good ole Southern boy wh...
Sep 30, 2021
Another Rockin' Debut
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... For every folk-rock band from Great Britain there was also a four man rock band dealing in heavy riffs, thundering bass and thumping drums. Today we focus on the debut self-titled LP from the Scottish outfit known as Nazareth (named after the town in Pennsyl...
Sep 29, 2021
Canterbury Tales
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... They hailed from Canterbury England...a religious town better known for Thomas Becket, Geoffrey Chaucer and the Archbishop of the Church of England then progressive rock music. But a prog scene had developed in the area during the late 60's and early 70's and...
Sep 28, 2021
Sweet Picking & Singing, Little Chart Success
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The 3rd studio LP for the band Poco continued their run as the band most likely to succeed but not accomplishing it. For the album 'From The Inside", the band saw the departure of founding member Jim Messina who was replaced by Paul Cotton. Cotton became ...
Sep 27, 2021
Pop Royalty Branches Out
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... By 1971 he was pop music royalty. He had written tons of hits for others and himself. Neil Diamond was as hot as a songwriter could get. I'm a Believer, Solitary Man, Cherry Cherry, Kentucky Woman, Shilo, Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show, Sweet Carolin...
Sep 24, 2021
A Tortured Soul
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... She robbed liquor stores as a teenager. She learned to play piano in her fathers bar and organ in reform school. She spent time in prison for various drug habits...and died young of a drug overdose in 1979. She wrote songs for the Turtles including the tune La...
Sep 23, 2021
Playing Out The String
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... They were one of the quintessential American bands of the late 60's but by late 1971 Quicksilver Messenger Service was a shadow of its former self. They released their sixth album called "Quicksilver". Original members John Cipollina and David Frei...
Sep 22, 2021
Struggling To Find The Formula
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Yeah...I didn't post the real cover...with the naked tattooed lady...so sue me. In 1971 Supertramp was a band looking for a formula. Their first LP "Supertramp" was a suitable representative of the "prog rock" of the era but didn't sell wel...
Sep 21, 2021
Inspirational Metal
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... Heavy Metal music was rearing it's flaming head in 1971. Into the mix flew a band from Cardiff Wales that mixed some Zep with Sabbath...lots of tasty riffing...pounding bass and drum bashing...plus some of the most interesting song titles ever. Say hello to Bu...
Sep 20, 2021
Raw and Joyful
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... How did a record company ever allow a release of a sloppy, disjointed collection of low-fi recordings? In 1971 it was all about the spirit of the project as well as the execution...and Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett had enough big name friends along for the rid...
Sep 17, 2021
Rock & Roll With A Shot Of Blues
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The cover looks like a dangerous rock & roll band in the heart of a decaying city. The music is straight ahead rock & roll with a strong shot of the blues. The band is Edgar Winter's White Trash. How could you not like a band with.... three guitarists ...
Sep 16, 2021
A Guilty Pleasure
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... Very few people I knew in 1971 publicly admitted they liked the Carpenters. It just wasn't a hip thing to do. And despite that, the brother-sister duo of Karen & Richard Carpenter sold millions of records and were regularly heard on the radio. And even th...
Sep 15, 2021
An Underrated Prog Classic
We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago..... The 3rd studio LP from the English band Genesis, "Nursery Cryme", was the first one featuring the classic lineup and it's a gem. Though not very popular at the time (except in Italy, for some reason), the album shows a band on the rise, full of the stuff ...
Sep 14, 2021
Familiar Grooves
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... 1971 was a busy year for the R&B duo of Ike and Tina Turner. Early in the year they had a Top 5 hit with their re-make of CCR's "Proud Mary" which appeared on their 1970 LP "Workin Together" which came out in December. In February, Cap...
Sep 13, 2021
Another Unique Voice
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... It seems I'm drawn to singers with unique voices. Sure, I love pure singers like Linda Ronstadt and Freddie Mercury...but I'm always drawn back to the Dylans and the Prines and the Forberts and on and on. And so it goes for today's selection. America's flower ...
Sep 10, 2021
Sonic Texture Is The Thing
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... The sixth studio LP from Pink Floyd was another step leading toward their 70's masterpieces. "Meddle" was a an LP that featured both sides of the band...where a hook laden song like "Fearless" can share an album side with a driving instrume...
Sep 09, 2021
One Big Hit
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... It's rare when an album can have a top 5 hit on it and still not even sniff the charts. Such was the case of the debut, self-titled LP from Jonathan Edwards in 1971. You certainly remember his big fat hit.... But the rest of the album is a perfectly acceptab...
Sep 08, 2021
Feminist Or Sexist?
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... It was an interesting LP....full of solid rock & roll guitar and organ....even some prog notes in the title tracak...but "For Ladies Only" from Steppenwolf will always be full of question marks. It was suggested that the band that brought you '...
Sep 07, 2021
One Hit Wonders
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....today we take another break from the albums of the period to focus on some of the hit singles...and today it's a bunch of one hit wonders..... White Lies, Blue Eyes-Bullet....a surprise hit for a trio of New York vocalists named Ernie Sorrentino, Lenny Lambert a...
Sep 03, 2021
Paranoid Funk
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... He spent much of 1970 and 71 in a paranoid, drug induced haze and the only musical product his record company could release was a really good greatest hits package. So when Sly Stone delivered his latest record to CBS, Clive Davis and others were relieved, eve...
Sep 02, 2021
A Certain Sound, A Certain Place
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... One of the pleasures of listening to LPs in the 70's were the liner notes on the LP cover. There is something massively lost when you have a CD or MP3 or streaming service where that information is not available. And when you look at the liner notes to the L...
Sep 01, 2021
Pure Pop Pleasure
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago...... Call him the anti-pop star. Harry Nilsson seemed to do all the wrong things for success in the music business. He didn't tour. He didn't even like doing other live performances. He wrote songs that seemed to be out of the mainstream even though other artists ...
Aug 31, 2021
Another Signature Female Voice Emerges
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... She had it...whatever it is....the voice, the writing talent, the look, the animal magnetism, that jumped off her album covers into the hearts, minds and other areas of men and boys all over the world. And women could relate to her songs of longing, frustrat...
Aug 30, 2021
Practice, Practice, Practice
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... A man was on the street in New York asking for directions..."How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"...the answer, of course, was "Practice, Practice, Practice." And practice they did. As the band Chicago toured in support of their 3rd LP relea...
Aug 27, 2021
Digging That AfroBeat
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees came out earlier this year I knew all of them except one. I really could not believe that someone I never heard of was being considered for a spot in the rock pantheon. When I mentioned on Facebook that I had neve...
Aug 26, 2021
Classical Gas
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... The collision of rock music and classical music occurred in 1971 as the trio of Emerson, Lake & Palmer released a live in concert recording called "Pictures at an Exhibition". The band had released an LP called Tarkus earlier in the year and re...
Aug 25, 2021
The Dead Live...The Way They Were Meant To Be
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago..... If there was a band of the late 60's and early 70's that were known for their live shows...it was the Grateful Dead. The Bay Area band was certainly not everyone's cup of tea. They were loose and played that way, although these performances are tighter than mo...
Aug 24, 2021
Stretching It Out
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....this week concentrating on live albums..... Forever known as "the backpack album" Rare Earth released an excellent double LPof concert performances recorded in Florid and New York. The album featured extended versions of many of their hits including &q...
Aug 23, 2021
Reggae Roots
We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago....... By 1971 reggae music had been percolating for years in Jamaica and other places but not much in America. With some notable exceptions like Desmond Dekker's hit "Israelites" in 1968, folks in the US were not exposed to this kind of music. The LP &qu...
Aug 20, 2021